American Joint Replacement Registry

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American Joint Replacement Registry

In its continuing mission to provide the best patient care possible, Southeast
Georgia Health System announced recently that it has become a member of
the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), an independent, not-for-profit
database designed to store comprehensive data about joint replacement
procedures.

“More than a million
hip and
knee replacements are performed each year in the U.S., and that number is expected to increase
as more and more men and women remain active as they get older,” said
Melvin Deese, M.D., board-certified
orthopaedic surgeon and medical director of the Southeast Georgia Health System Orthopaedic
& Spine Center.

“Joining the AJRR will help ensure that we can continue to provide
patients with the best care possible,” added Deese. “We’re
the first Health System in the state of Georgia to join the registry.
By participating with other hospitals in sharing information about artificial
joint performance and physician and patient experiences, we can help joint
replacement procedures become safer nationwide.”

According to Deese, the vast majority of replacement surgeries are successful,
offering patients years of trouble-free use and helping patients resume
their regular activities of daily living. Approximately 90% of joint replacements
last 20 years or more.

The AJRR serves as a central clearinghouse for information about joint
replacements performed at Southeast Georgia Health System and other member
hospitals and medical centers throughout the country that participate
in the registry. The AJRR aims to carefully monitor the artificial joint
throughout a recipient’s lifetime in a database containing information
about the patient, the surgeon who performed the procedure and the hospital
or medical center where the procedure took place. The data collected will
help doctors more quickly identify joints that are performing poorly,
and will help them match patients, procedures and devices to ensure that
every patient has the best experience possible.

By offering a single source of data, doctors and other health care professionals
who use the registry can easily access data from medical centers around
the country and use that information to help them make more informed recommendations
to their patients. Registry information about patient outcomes will also
help artificial joint manufacturers improve their products and identify
potentially faulty products, and can help reduce health care costs associated
with replacement procedures and follow-up care. All data collected by
the AJRR remains confidential to protect patient privacy.